Westfield girls soccer comes from behind against Cranford

WESTFIELD - The  Westfield High School girls soccer team traveled to New York City for an appearance on "Good Morning America" for Abby Wambach’s new book release last week.

“It was just amazing just getting be there and seeing (Wambach) speak in person,” junior Carly Bechtloff said.

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While that may have seemed like the highlight of their week, the Blue Devils went on to win all three of their games, including an 8-0 rout of division foe Union Catholic.

On Tuesday, Westfield (5-0-1) continued its great play as it remained undefeated with a 2-1 win against Cranford. In a Union County Conference matchup, Westfield was able to come from behind and score late as Bechtloff scored the game-winning goal with 17:05 remaining in regulation.

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“It was the second corner in the row, so they knew our play on the first one, so I knew we had to change it up a bit,” Bechtloff said.  “I just made a quick decision just to run in instead of staying back.”

Sophomore Josie Greenwood earned the assist with a beautiful corner kick, where she placed the ball perfectly on the near-side of the net. While the game-winning goal was beautiful, the first half was anything but, as the Blue Devils came out slow.

The match began with Westfield falling behind early, as the team allowed its first goal of the season when Cranford’s Lauren Williamson put one in the back of the net in the 10th minute of the first half.

Westfield’s Caitlin Amman gave up the Blue Devils' first goal of the season as she stepped in for injured three-year starter and University of Georgia commit Lizzie Brucia.

“It’s unfortunate our first goal of the season went in on our JV goalkeeper, but it was bound to happen sometime,” Westfield coach Alex Schmidt said.

Westfield responded two minutes later with a long strike from Greenwood from well outside the box.

Although Westfield was tied in the first half, Schmidt knew his team would need to make several adjustments in the second half to get the win versus a tough Cranford (2-3-1) team.

“Going into the first half we were a little off our game,” he said. “In the second half we decided we didn’t have any midfield play in the first half so we kind of changed it up in the middle a little bit.”

The half-time adjustments payed off in the second half as the Blue Devils were able to open it up and get some shots on net. After the tie-breaker by Bechtloff, the Cranford offense was relentless on the attack as it held possession for nearly the rest of the match.

With the Cougars putting the pressure on, Westfield relied heavy on its backup keeper to close out the game.

“Anytime you can have a second string goal keeper and get a win, we’re pretty happy for ourselves,” Schmidt said.  “It was her first varsity game ever, I thought she did very well.”

Brucia will be returning from injury on Saturday when Westfield takes on a talented Watchung Hills team.

“That’s going to be another true test, I mean that’s a Top 10 team so that’s going to be a good game," Schmidt said.